Is 2014 your year for trans-Tasman business partnership?

Bella Katz will be in Auckland conducting a Marketing to Australia workshop, April 14. 

If expansion into Australia is on the cards for you in 2014, this is the time for you to make a serious play for Australia.

The fresh approach and ideas your New Zealand business brings, may be exactly what many Australian manufacturing companies need to evolve and succeed.

Without doubt, many Australian business owners have exit strategies on their mind.

While others will conclude their business models need reassessment and different, perhaps more radical options deserve serious consideration.

They want to talk to you.

Many of these companies wont have the luxury of time they once had. Radical changes may mean survival or swift defeat.

So how can your manufacturing capabilities create positive business opportunities for Australian companies?

And conversely, what does the ideal Australian business one that can facilitate your company growth look like?

The case for why more companies are closing their factories in Australia and moving offshore to New Zealand, is understood clearly.

The New Zealand dollar is weaker. The wages lower. The bureaucratic red tape is less restrictive.

Even Australians admit that the grass looks a little greener over your side of the Tasman.

So I would encourage you to invest the time this year and pinpoint potential Australian partners.

At the tail end of 2013, there was increasing discomfort in the Australian manufacturing sector. There was also a widening divide between manufacturers that were investing and setting up their business for growth. And those that saw nothing but failure ahead.

Instead of encouraging a negative narrative of New Zealand companies taking business from Australia, New Zealanders can redirect it and simultaneously turn some of these Australian troubles into trans-Tasman opportunities.

Whether your shortlist includes a list of companies for possible investment or expansion into new, complimentary areas, Australian business owners will be very open to discussion with Kiwi cousins.

There has to be a way for New Zealand and Australian manufacturing companies to work together and turn international opportunities into mutual success stories. Turn humble local businesses into serious global contenders.

With our countries, cultures and time zones so close together, the time is right to create strategic partnerships or merge with Australian companies as part of your approach.